On the Water Front/ Santa Cruz Mountain Bulletin

10/02/2021

*Image not of Brookdale pipeline.

Mark Dolson   Main Pipeline Break in Brookdale Rapidly Repaired. The September 2nd and September 16th Board Meetings for SLVWD were fairly efficient and routine. At its first September meetin…

08/01/2021

  Mark Dolson   Routine Approvals and Some Open Issues.  

08/01/2021

Staff reporter Water is a hot topic as California faces severe drought conditions. The Santa Cruz Water Rights Project is a proposed project aimed at creating a policy to distribute water to areas…

06/26/2021

Board perseveres through power outage to conduct routine business by Mark Dolson    

06/12/2021

Board unanimously adopts Fire Management Plan. by Mark Dolson

05/25/2021

Board unanimously ends consideration of consolidation proposal.

The May 20th Board Meeting for the SLVWD was exceptionally long (four hours) but also well worth sitting through to the end. The final agenda item concerned the controversial proposal, first advanced by District Manager Rick Rogers in February, to explore the possibility of consolidating the SLVWD and the neighboring Scotts Valley Water District. This suggestion evoked considerable alarm in the SLV community, and the Directors asked Rick in March to prepare a brief memo identifying and quantifying potential benefits and drawbacks. The memo reviewed by the Board on May 20th was not fully responsive to this request, but the Directors felt that they now had enough information to unanimously vote against any further consideration of consolidation (and public commenters unanimously concurred).

Three key concerns emerged over the course of a 55-minute discussion. First, while consolidation is generally being promoted by the State and would very likely provide some financial and operating benefits, there were questions as to how significant these would be. Second, everyone agreed that community concerns about loss of local control would require considerable time and investment to adequately engage with. Third, and perhaps most decisively, the Scotts Valley Water District has some major pending expenses associated with refurbishing its recycling water treatment plant and, especially, with upcoming groundwater protection initiatives potentially emerging from the Santa Margarita Groundwater Agency planning process. President Mahood estimated that it will take five years for these latter costs to become clear.
read more: https://www.santacruzmountainbulletin.net/2021/05/26/san-lorenzo-valley-water-district-board-meeting-summary-may-20-2021/

05/19/2021

Mark Dolson    

04/17/2021

Mark Dolson Board updates Policy Manual.  

04/06/2021

Mark Dolson Board agrees to fill vacant Director seat via appointment – applications due April 28th.

04/06/2021

04/06/2021

Mark Dolson Board approves further preliminary fact-finding re: water district consolidation proposal.  

04/05/2021

04/05/2021